I wasn’t at the Policy Forum on Saturday to hear Ed Miliband’s keynote speech. A shame, I would have liked to, and I ended up reading it and watching it on video (I’m sad like that). And the speech was important, one of Ed’s first opportunities as Leader to set the tone for what Labour… Continue reading Labour’s Catch-22
Month: November 2010
And if Spain should fall…?
On Monday the big news of the day was the Ireland bailout. Yesterday, the follow-on story is Portugal’s general strike and the possibility of it pushing that country over the edge. But the nagging doubt in everyone’s minds, I am sure, in the European power-centres today, will be neither: it will be the much worse… Continue reading And if Spain should fall…?
The judge, the protesters and the EU’s useless foreign policy
Last week’s newsreels of demonstrations in Madrid against the killing of at least 12 protesters in a Moroccan camp seem to have at last got people’s attention. But it’s the tip of the iceberg in one of the longest-running and least-publicised conflicts in the Mediterranean. Western Sahara is not Palestine. It’s not a complicated conflict,… Continue reading The judge, the protesters and the EU’s useless foreign policy
End of a decade: Labour’s geography (and history) lesson
As we close the decade with Barack Obama licking his wounds after the midterms, it’s perhaps a good moment to take a look at the tectonic plates of Western geopolitics. And, I don’t want to scare you, but it doesn’t look that inviting for us on the left. First of all, this shift is just… Continue reading End of a decade: Labour’s geography (and history) lesson
Labour’s New Generation and the economy (stupid)
Well, we’re now starting to see more of how the Opposition is going to shape up over the next few years. The jury’s still out – but there are some slightly worrying signs. On the positive side, Ed’s smart enough to realise that he needs to make reassuring noises to the business community if he… Continue reading Labour’s New Generation and the economy (stupid)